


Could've Had It All

by The_Wavesinger



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: 5+1 Things, Drabble Sequence, Dysfunctional Family, Extra Treat, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-08-12
Packaged: 2020-08-20 01:08:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20219290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Wavesinger/pseuds/The_Wavesinger
Summary: Five times Azula wanted to fight Zuko (and one time she didn't).





	Could've Had It All

**Author's Note:**

  * For [scribblemyname](https://archiveofourown.org/users/scribblemyname/gifts).

> *slips in late treat*
> 
> This fic was inspired/prompted by Adele's "Rolling in the Deep"; the title is also from that song.

**1.**

“Come spar with me, Zuzu,” Azula says.

He turns his back to her. “No.”

She pouts. She _likes_ training with Zuko.

He’s slow and weak and his fire’s pathetic against hers, but he’s also really fun. He gets mad all the time when she beats him (and why wouldn’t she beat him, she’s obviously much better at firebending than him even if he’s too stupid to understand). The way he huffs and puffs and storms off is _cute_.

“Please,” she says. She makes her voice whiny and needy, like the wounded animals he loves taking care of.

“Fine.”

Azula cheers.

**2.**

“Why don’t you want to train with me, Zuzu?”

It’s pointless. Ever since mother—ever since that night, he’s grown quiet and serious, and he’s off with stupid Uncle Iroh more often than not. He won’t test himself against her, now. Unless, of course, she can make him mad enough.

“You know you suck,” Azula taunts. “You know I’m better than you, and you’re too much of a baby to admit it.”

He clenches his fists, his eyes flashing. “You want to fight? Let’s fight.”

She giggles as she skips off. He’s so easy, it’s almost no fun at all.

**3.**

“I need a new master,” Azula tells her father over dinner. Just the two of them in his private chambers; a rare occurrence, one she misses.

Ozai raises an eyebrow. “Is there something wrong with Master Li?”

“He’s boring,” Azula says bluntly. “He doesn’t interest me.”

“You said that before,” Ozai points out. “With Master Zhou. Before that, and before that as well.”

“Well, he’s _boring_.” Honestly, he’s good. Brilliant, even. But he’s no fun. Not like Zuko. It’s stupid. He’s stupid. But he’s fun to fight with. “I want someone else.”

Ozai acquiesces easily.

It’s not what she wants.

**4.**

Zuko is in Ba Sing Se, and either he’s a traitor aiding the Avatar, or he’ll help Azula bring down the Avatar once and for all and bring peace back to the world.

“You’re not nervous?” Ty Lee asks. She’s frowning at Azula, the way she does when she worries.

Azula is in a good mood. She allows it. “Whatever have I to be nervous about, Ty Lee? It’ll be nice to see Zuzu again, if he’s on our side. If he’s not…”

She almost wants him to be a traitor. It might be _fun_. She’s missed their sparring matches.

**5.**

Zuko is _good_.

Azula's surprised by how good he is. Surprised and, she can admit, a little bit jealous. Zuko’s supposed to be the _failure_.

She deflects a blast of fire, and it’s a little bit more difficult than she expected it to be. Not hard, of course, he’s still no match for despite Azula holding off the lightning, but he’s good.

He’s improved.

“You’ve gotten better,” she tells him, and turns it into a weapon. “Not good enough to beat me, of course, but still good.”

He attacks, of course, (good old Zuzu, ever predictable) and she laughs wildly.

**+1**

Azula doesn’t want to fight him, doesn’t want to fight anyone. She wants all of them to go away, the annoying little Avatar and his stupid Water Tribe peasant girlfriend and the hangers-on they calls friends, and most of all her failure of a big brother, who’s not supposed to be fighting her.

Not like this. Not this way.

“I don’t want to fight him,” she tells the mirror, but she has to.

She’s Fire Lord Azula now. She protects the Fire Nation.

She’ll make her father proud.

Zuko has gone against the Fire Lord. Azula will make him _pay_.


End file.
